Military chiefs have scrapped a ban on tattoos decorating the saluting arm of recruits joining the US air force, following a backlash among heavily inked young Americans signing up for duty.

The air force recruiting service instituted a policy on 25 November prohibiting tattoos below the elbow on the right arm of recruits, citing "military image". The service did not want tattoos to be visible when its airmen salute.

Within a week, the rule meant that 26 recruits were turned away from basic training, causing confusion among 17,000 people due to join the service under a delayed entry program, which allows for a hiatus of up to 12 months between signing up and reporting for duty.

By the end of last week, military bosses had relented. In a statement to the in-house Air Force Times, the recruiting service's commander, Brigadier General Alfred Stewart, said that "regrettably", recruits had been caught in the middle of the change. He said: "At this time, recruiting service is revising guidance recently sent to the field."

The crackdown came amid rising enlistment levels to the US military due, in part, to a surge in unemployment. Despite a steady flow of casualties in Afghanistan, the US defence department recently said it had exceeded recruitment goals across the army, navy, air force and marine corps for the first time since 1973, signing up 169,000 people in a year, plus 138,000 reservists.

The military has long frowned on extensive body decoration. US air force policy bans tattoos that are obscene, above the collarbone or that cover more than a quarter of any body part.

But recruits were disgruntled at last month's abrupt attempt at a crackdown and unhappy at the potentially hefty cost of having tattoos removed. Raymond Dawicki, a 21-year-old from Connecticut with his first name tattooed on the inside of his right arm, said the air force told him last week he was disqualified.

"I was kind of shocked at first. I didn't really know what to say," Dawicki told the Air Force Times. "I don't want to go into another branch, I want to go into the air force."